Journal Jots – Blog

“Grace like rain …” Patience’s whisper was laced with awe.

She laid her head on his shoulder. “Washing our sins away.”

“Yes,” Blake said with a lump in his throat,

“a gift like no other from the God of second chances.”

— Grace Like Rain, With This Kiss Historical Collection

LET IT RAIN, LET IT RAIN, LET IT RAIN!

WHOO-HOO … Blake “The Rake” McClare gets his day in the sun … er … rain, that is, in my new novella, Grace Like Rain, WHICH releases TODAY!!

To whet your appetite for a fun read, check out a first-chapter excerpt and  celebrity pix for Blake and Patience Peabody in my prior Journal Jot HERE.

I gotta tell you, I’m really excited about this novella, not only because it was reallllly fun to write, but because the WITH THIS KISS HISTORICAL COLLECTION AND the WITH THIS KISS CONTEMPORARY COLLECTION are both a steal of a deal at only $2.99 each for five great novellas by award-winning authors Mary Connealy, Pam Hillman, Cara Lynn James, Sandra Leesmith, Ruth Logan Herne, Tina Radcliffe, Missy Tippens, and moi.

And to sweeten the deal, those of you who have already pre-ordered the collections OR purchase one or both today, I am adding two new entry options, both worth five points each in the “WITH THIS KISS” CONTEST, so do check them out at the contest link below and GOOD LUCK!!

WITH THIS KISS CONTEST LINK

HUGS AND HAPPY READING & RAINING!

Julie

“Behold, I am making all things new.”

— Revelation 21:5

New. Clean. Fresh Start. Do-Over.

New Beginnings.

I just love new beginnings, don’t you? New buds in the spring, dressing barren trees in a soft, hazy green. Lacy fairy-tale gowns and shoes to say “I do.” Spankin’ new school supplies and clothes in the fall—all crisp and clean and new!

Goodness, new things even have their own smell—new cars, new books, new shoes. Just like the clean scent of fresh laundry billowing in a sun-kissed breeze, it makes a body feel good, you know? Fresh and clean and new. 

And so very, very full of hope. 

Just like Easter.

A celebration of a new beginning for souls so badly in need of salvation, a cleansing and a healing from the God of Second Chances. A do-over unlike any other. Where God not only washes souls that are scarlet with sin, but bleaches them until they’re white as snow.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

—   Isaiah 1:18

And not just one time, mind you—but daily—because that’s what Easter is all about. A God Whose love never ceases and Whose mercies never come to an end. 

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies

never come to an end; they are new every morning …

—Lamentations 3:22-23

And I don’t know about you, but I need all the mercy and grace I can get.

Daily.

Which is why Easter is the most important day of the year to me. To me, it represents my “do-over” … and over … and over. Where this weak and wanting human being can go “from strength to strength until I appear before God in Zion.” —Psalm 84:7. 

Sigh. What an AWESOME God we serve! So, let’s serve Him well this Easter with a heart full of thanksgiving and a mouth full of praise. I guarantee you, it will nourish and fill you far more than any Easter ham or chocolate eggs. 

OH, AND SPEAKING OF “NEW” …

I just happen to have a brand-new contest going on right now till next Thursday, April 16, so check it out below:

WITH THIS KISS CONTEST

How would you like to have a character named after you in my next book, a signed copy, and your choice of one of my books or one of the books from any of the ladies in the “With This Kiss” collections AND a top CBA book from my personal library?

Well, now you can with a brand-new contest I’ve kicked off to help promote the “With This Kiss” collections, which include my brand-new novella, Grace Like Rain, about Blake “The Rake” McClare. Want details? Just hop on over to my “Contest” page of this website to get started and GOOD LUCK!! Here’s the link: 

WITH THIS KISS CONTEST

HISTORICAL FICTION WINNERS:

PLEASE accept my apologies for the delay in posting the winners of the Historical Fiction Contest. Here they are now (listed by book won, then winner of that book) and SUPER CONGRATS to each and every one of you!

The Daughter of Highland Hall:  Karen Stancliff
The Wood’s Edge:  Nicki Olsen
The Captive Imposter:  Abigail Grace Richmond
Surprised By Love:  Jessie Gunderson
The Covered Deep:  Nita West
A Lady at Willowgrove Hall:  Deanne Patterson
Brentwood’s Ward:  Angie Griffis
An Uncertain Choice:  Lisa Stifler
Love’s Fortune:  Lee Anne McKinney
The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest:   Mikal Hermanns

I wish you and yours a most blessed Easter and Happy Do-Over!

Hugs,

Julie

 

“Instead of mulling over your problems,

look to Me lightheartedly and, ‘Catch, Jesus!’

Then fling your cares into my strong, waiting hands.”

— Jesus Today, Sarah Young

Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you. 

— 1 Peter 5:7

Let’s just get this out on the table, shall we? When it comes to playing “catch,” my skill level can be found in the candy aisle of any gas station or grocery store in a bright yellow and blue package.

Seriously, I was so bad in athletics that I couldn’t walk a balance beam to save my soul and was always picked last on any sports team in school.

So when I saw today’s quote from one of my favorite devotional books this morning, I actually smiled—big! Keith happened to walk in at that exact moment and said, “What are you smiling for?” I promptly read the first part of the devotional to him that said, “Cast all your cares on Me, for I am watching over you. I am actually a very good Catcher …”

LOL … and thank God! I was so bad in catching that once when I was  on a girl’s softball team (and pretty skinny back then), my brother joked the only position I could play was the foul line.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter how you throw—underhand, overhand, or out-of-hand like me, the good news is, God IS a good catcher of any problems, worries, disappointments, or fears we want to toss His way.

Since my sabbatical last year, I’ve learned this lesson well and most days am able to toss God my problems like a Cy Young award winner, and I gotta tell you—it’s a shutout on satan every single time. That is, as long as I let go of the ball …

The two most important times of my life when I let go of the ball to cast my cares on Jesus were when we sold our first house and when a doctor told me my son had cancer.

The house situation was we took a big risk (yes, I know, not a smart thing to do, and trust me, I am not normally a risk taker, but there are details I cannot divulge as to why we did this) and put a non-contingent contract on our current house to induce the sellers to lower the price. We did this on a Saturday, then found out on Monday that A.) The company where my husband and I both worked were planning to lay off over 300 people, and B.) a split foyer (which our house was) hadn’t sold in our county (a huge county of over 221,000) in over a year and a half, according to our realtor.

So there we sat with the possibility of two house and no jobs. Now if you’ve been reading my books or my blogs for any length of time, you know what a wired CDQ (caffeinated drama queen) I am, so you can imagine my state of mind. I was a deer in headlights whose heart started beating so fast, I thought I was going to faint. So I promptly went out on my deck, looked up at the sky and said, “God, I can’t handle this and will literally freak out if You don’t take it, so here you go.” That was one of the first times I remember ever completely turning a problem over to God to save my sanity, and you better believe I tossed that sucker off the deck so far, my arm hurt.

What happened next is nothing short of a miracle, in my opinion, because not only did Keith and I not lose our jobs, but we sold our house (which was nothing special, trust me) in approximately one week for our asking price. My neighbor was actually a little ticked because they had been trying to sell their much larger, much nicer, and much more spacious ranch with private, wooded backyard and two fireplaces for over a year and no bites. So there you have it—we were able to not only buy a house twice as big, three times as nice, and 10 minutes from our work vs. 35 minutes, but we got it for over $100,000 less than the original asking price. Talk about a Golden Glove award-winning catch by the MVP-G (most valuable player—God)!

The second example is actually the greatest example of my life when I completely cast my cares on Jesus, and that’s when my son was away at college and a local specialist told us he thought my son had cancer. My husband and I were devastated and immediately sought a second opinion. An extensive battery of tests were run, but we had a week to wait for the results (I still don’t know why we had to wait a whole week, but we did). Keep in mind that I am a pretty wired individual, so the thought of waiting a week put my imagination in overdrive. There I would be, lying in my bed and desperately trying to sleep, when images of my son in a casket would bombard my mind.

The only way I got through that week was giving it to God, then applying His precepts. As soon as a horrible image or thought would come to me, I would rebuke it in Jesus’ name (the same way Jesus rebuked the terrible storm when He and the apostles were in the boat—Matthew 8:26), and then I would replace it with God’s Word such as “No weapon formed against my son shall prosper; this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord” Isaiah 54:17, or “for You are the God who heals my son,” Exodus 15:26.

I said it OVER and OVER again until it drove the fear away and filled me with God’s peace. How did everything turn out? Well, I spent the week resting in God’s Word, as calm and placid as a mirror lake, while my usually laid-back husband was a basket case. I finally had to type up a whole page of healing scriptures, print it off, and tuck it in his wallet so that he, too, could be transformed from fear to peace. At the end of the week, God answered our prayers—no cancer! Thank you, Jesus! For a list of Scriptures for healing, hope, or for writers, here’s the link on my website where you can find them:  

http://www.julielessman.com/from-the-heart/

So … ready to play ball? Whatever burdens you bear today, just toss them to the best “Catcher” in the biz and say, “Catch, Jesus,” and I promise you He will catch them because not only does He “care for you,” but He loves you with an everlasting love.

Batter Up!!

Hugs and Happy Weekend.

Julie

“WITH THIS KISS CONTEST”

Hey, how would you like to have a character named after you in my next book, a signed copy, and your choice of one of my books or one of the books from any of the ladies in the “With This Kiss” collections AND a top CBA book from my personal library?

Well, now you can with a brand-new contest I’ve kicked off to help promote the “With This Kiss” collections, which include my brand-new novella, Grace Like Rain, about Blake “The Rake” McClare.

Want details? Just hop on over to my “Contest” page of this website,  get started, and GOOD LUCK!! Here’s the link:

“With This Kiss” Contest